Thanks to Maylin Scott at Dewey and the Divas, I won and then quickly read three New York Review of Books books: Great Granny Webster, by Caroline Blackwood, and The True Deceiver and Fair Play by Tove Jansson. These broke my record from acquisition to read record: less than 12 hours.

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‘Just because’ is absolutely the best reason there is for buying books and if I had to own up to how many I’d bought this month and then the fact that they were all for me (!) I would have to hang my head in shame.

How did you get on with ‘The True Deceiver’? We read it for book group last year and I was very ambivalent about it. I could see it was a superb piece of writing but really didn’t like it.

I would love to join the Folio Society but oh those prices. Even in a secondhand shop I was in last week they were beyond my purse. I hope you enjoy them.

I really liked _The True Deceiver_ because I found the tension so thick. I also liked the tension between the character’s reputation for brutal honesty and her deceit. And the snow. It’s been a long, cold winter here, and I felt comparatively balmy after reading about their weather! _Fair Play_ was a quieter, and less satisfying, read, in part because I was distracted by the autobiographical links. I felt as if I needed to know more about Tove Jansson’s life in order to fully appreciate the fiction.
Folio Society books are incredibly expensive, but I could not resist getting four of the rainbow fairy books for $20, the sign-up package. I have my eye on The Lord of the Rings books, which Rowan has asked me to read to him….

So glad you enjoyed the NYRBs. I also just read Fair Play and really loved it. Subtle, delicate moments of love and frustration and the artistic working life with its concentration, distractions and envy. I’ve been letting it sink in and keep thinking about it; I know I’ll be re-reading it soon.

I’ve been a Folio member for several years – yes, they can be pricey, but they really are beautiful books to own and give as a special gift. I rarely take a chance on a writer I haven’t read, but for some of my favourites, I do indulge. They have a lovely edition of Tove Jansson’s Finn Family Moomintroll. And I have a wonderful set of Proust sprinkled with photos of Paris from the time of the novel.

It’s funny, but it’s the kids’ books that most appeal to me at Folio. Perhaps because I have a sense of their truly lasting appeal. I finished reading a prose version of Beowulf to the kids tonight, and I saw the translation by Seamus Heaney in the Folio catalogue and yearned. Then again, it might make sense to do that as an audiobook in the car. Oral tradition and all that…. The Andrew Lang books arrived today, and they are just a joy to hold and touch and read. Truly lovely.